Used one of those devices to check my 92 octane BP Ultimate unleaded that I have been running. Turns out it has about 10% ethanol to my surprise. Thought only the lower grades are required to be E10. Was told by my brother they have checked every station around trying to find gas for his airplane and can't find any with 0% ethanol.

Used one of those devices to check my 92 octane BP Ultimate unleaded that I have been running. Turns out it has about 10% ethanol to my surprise. Thought only the lower grades are required to be E10. Was told by my brother they have checked every station around trying to find gas for his airplane and can't find any with 0% ethanol.

Rick

Thats interesting, here in Australia it is a requirement to label all fuels with more than 4% ethanol. So here it would be labeled as such, and not disguised. Consumers have a right to know if the fuel has Ethanol in it because of its corrosion effects and other incompatibilities with rubbers etc. That would be a serious concern for aircraft. There are some casting alloys used for heads etc that Ethanol corrodes during use areas like the ports etc. It leaves residues in the combustion chamber. I am not aware if any of these residues may cause catalytic reactions to some of the combustion products and it would be difficult to find out the answer to that because not all the products produced during a combustion are known or are stable enough to do test simulations on them. My advice and I would like you to convey it to your Brother is to not use fuel with Ethanol content and if that means using AV-gas then that's the safest option. I dont know of any aircraft engine that is certified for Ethanol content. When drilling etc like carby passages corrode they actually become smaller in ID at the initial stages. Corrosion is a process that expands the surface of the material. So until its excessively corroded the jets etc will run leaner. Not a good scene for aircraft.

Was at a small local airport today picking up some 100LL avgas for the Studebaker and the conversation got around to fuel and ethanol and it turns out that Rotax has an engine that is 10% ethanol certified by the FAA here in the States. It's the only one though.

My advice and I would like you to convey it to your Brother is to not use fuel with Ethanol content and if that means using AV-gas then that's the safest option. I dont know of any aircraft engine that is certified for Ethanol content.

They were making sure they were not using any ethanol fuel in the airplane, that's why they were testing it. Here in Missouri they made a law that all stations must sell E10 IF its as cheap or cheaper than the non-E fuels. Most stations have switched and don't HAVE to sell E10 because of the price of ethanol, but they don't want the hassle from the state about it and sell ONLY E10, even in the high grade stuff. I will be looking for a replacement fuel and it may include an avgas blend. I will be checking the Kansas stations close by to see if they are ethanol or not.

Hey guys thank you for bringing me into the forum. I look forward to first catching up on what you guys have done so far and sharing my experiences with E85. I am newer to the dominator game as well but have done 2 dominators that are working well. Having the 1150 I just did for a friend of mine put on the dyno next week side by side comparison with his 1150 gas carb. I will post the results when I have them.

When we get to the 4150 carbs I have a lot of knowledge there as I worked on mine for my car for 3 years. Starting out with a set of green blocks from QFT and moving into my own blocks, boosters, etc...